Co-owner of Just Cuz DJ Entertainment Brian Vaughan said he has been moving the crowds with music since 1992. Based out of Fairbury and Peoria, he and cousin and co-owner Greg Vaughan provide entertainment around Bloomington, Peoria and the Livingston County area with about 30 uplights, three different sound systems and a library of more than 60,000 songs covering everything from oldies to new pop music.

“I live in Fairbury and my cousin lives in Peoria,” said Brian Vaughan. “We came up with the name DJ Just Cuz because we are cousins. We both messed around with DJ’ing in college and hooked up after college. I graduated in 1990 and he graduated in 1991 and I believe it was the beginning of 1992 when we started working together.”

The only thing that can follow a great wedding is a great wedding reception. There must be food, speeches and dancing, but the glue that binds all of these things often comes in the form of a good disc jockey. Brian Vaughan said as a DJ, he treats every wedding party like it’s the bride and bridegroom’s day. He and his cousin cater to the needs of the newlyweds and as an added bonus, keep on top of their schedule of the events.

“A lot of times, a bride and groom don’t have the time to worry about what’s next and most of them don’t have wedding planners,” said Brian Vaughan. “They can’t afford to pay thousands of dollars for a wedding planner, so they leave it to the DJ to walk them through the night.”

In Brian Vaughan’s mind, the reasons to pick a DJ over a live band are simple: a live band can only play certain songs and a DJ can play exactly what a party wants to hear, when they want to hear it.

“A lot of times, people want the exact song that they first danced to with their significant other,” he said. “Or that special song between a bride and her dad. They don’t want somebody’s interpretation. Also, a lot of times the band may not know the song on the spot, so if you request it they may not be able to play it.”

When hiring a quality DJ, a couple can expect to spend somewhere in-between $700 to $1,000. Brian Vaughan said it’s possible to find someone who will cost around $400, but at that price range, a couple is really gambling and may end up getting what they pay for.

“A guy who has been doing it a long time and has performed at a lot of weddings really knows a lot of songs and he knows what to play,” said Brian Vaughan. “I really think it does come down to experience when you are dealing with finding the right wedding DJ. Everybody can play a bar and play what they want, but it’s really hard for a DJ to get over what he likes and play what the crowd wants to hear. If you have a DJ who likes to play only what he likes, it’s not going to be the DJ for you.”

Page 2 of 3 - The best way to understand what a couple are interested in hearing is to sit down and talk to them. At some point prior to the wedding, Vaughan said he likes to sit down and get to know the couple. He likes to go over everything so they have an idea of what is going on and he definitely has an idea of what they want. He talks to them about the music they want to hear, things they expect and what games they want to play. Some games that have worked well for the Vaughan cousins include the line dance, where people are lined up on both sides of the dance floor and people go down the middle. Or the years of marriage dance, where after every 20 seconds, the music stops and in increments of 20 years of marriage, somebody who has been married less than that amount of years has to step off the floor until only the people who have been married the longest are left.

“That is a nice way to draw attention to the parents and grandparents and things like that,” said Brian Vaughan. “A lot of couples now are doing photo booths, too, like little photo booths with costumes so people can dress up and get silly and just have fun.”

The newest trend in the wedding DJ scene is the idea of the DJ controlling the room. In the past, Brian Vaughan said a DJ simply had his spot to stand, a little dance floor and maybe a few lights. Now, the DJ can add lighting and atmosphere to the whole reception room through the use of uplights. Uplights (or uplighting) are usually LED lights placed on the floor to illuminate portions of the walls and ceiling.

“People are finding it makes the atmosphere a lot better,” said Brian Vaughan. “It usually costs about $20 or $25 per-light and it just makes the atmosphere better. Before the current LED lighting systems that a lot of guys are going to, we had to use spotlights and the problem was people would sometimes bump into the light fixtures and burn themselves on the hot lights which had been running all night. A lot of uplighting is going on now, before it was a lot more expensive, but now with the cheaper cost of LED lighting, people can afford to set things up.”

Greg Vaughan added, “I just think it adds a lot of atmosphere. You can do so many different things with lighting. Sometimes I will angle them behind the head table and it just makes the place look totally different. We have done some receptions around Peoria Heights where you wouldn’t even believe it was the same place after we got the lighting up. We put up white curtains in different areas and I just think that you can do a lot with that. You can really just make it look like a professional show basically. It really makes it nice and gives it a good effect.”

Page 3 of 3 - Brian Vaughan said the best advice he could give a new couple is simply to look for experience. He suggests asking around and upon finding someone, asking where the person has been, how many weddings they have done and find out if the previous bride and groom were happy with their experience. He also said to make sure that the DJ has provided his music legally.

“I can’t speak for everyone, but I am paying all my copyrights, not stealing any songs, not downloading anything and that’s a key,” said Brian Vaughan. “If you have a DJ who is ripping off songs, he’s just not paying his dues and that’s a good way to get in trouble.”